Originally published at Kurt Angle inquired about doing commentary at the Olympics for freestyle wrestling
If any of the quotes from the following podcasts or video interviews are used, please credit those sources and provide an H/T and link back to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
** The Olympic Games in Tokyo kick off on July 23rd. Kurt Angle told The Asylum Wrestling Store during a virtual signing that he has inquired about doing commentary for the amateur/freestyle wrestling portion of the Olympics which starts in August. He does not believe it will happen this year but it could happen in 2022.
I do stuff with the Hall of Fame. I’ve been trying to contact the Olympic committee to do some commentary for the Olympics and the world championships but I have to be referred to the network who’s doing it so, we’re in the process of doing that. I don’t think it’s gonna happen this Olympics but hopefully next Olympics.
Prior to suffering a broken neck going into WrestleMania 19, Kurt said the plan was for him to hold the WWE Championship until SummerSlam 2003 and then drop it to Brock Lesnar.
Yes, I was supposed to have a title run. I was gonna go I believe until SummerSlam and have the rematch against Brock injury so, we had to do the switcheroo right then. But we did the opposite. I ended up beating Brock at SummerSlam to win the title. Either SummerSlam or the pay-per-view after to win the title so, we kind of switched places.
Angle reflected on getting to wrestle Owen Hart five days before his passing. Kurt feels that Owen was just a good a wrestler as Bret Hart was.
I got to wrestle Owen I thought.
When asked what his favorite storyline was from his time in WWE, Angle said that it could be anything he did with Chris Benoit and brought up their match at the 2003 Royal Rumble pay-per-view which he has deemed his favorite match that he’s ever had.
I think that for me it was anything I did with Chris Benoit. I really enjoyed working with Chris and doing the programs we had. He reminded me a lot of myself, especially in the ring and I love the programs I did with him, especially the build up to the Royal Rumble 2003 which I consider my favorite match that I ever had. Shawn Michaels, WrestleMania 21 is really close but the one with Benoit was definitely my favorite so I would say my programs with Chris were really good. Really enjoyed them.
** IMPACT Wrestling and Highspots Wrestling Network went live on Facebook for a virtual signing with Eric Young. Young has been out of action with a torn ACL but shared that he believes he’ll be good to go in October for Bound For Glory.
It’s bittersweet that I don’t get to compete. This three months actually is the longest I’ve gone without wrestling since 1997. So the longest was my 90-day non-compete so now this is definitely, officially the longest I’ve gone and I’ve got three months to go. So I will be cleared, I believe for October which is Bound For Glory. So, we’ll see what happens.
Young is the head of Violent By Design which consists of Rhino, Joe Doering and Deaner. There have been conversations about adding a member of the Knockouts division to the group.
A Knockout? It has been discussed. We’re open for business for sure. Anybody that wants to open their eyes and see the truth, to be baptized in the holy waters of change like the rest of the boys, we welcome that and we do have a couple ideas.
** Ring of Honor Women’s Title tourney competitor Rok-C joined Sassy Stephanie’s Talkin Sass podcast. In the Summer of 2020, Rok-C was one of many women who spoke out about their experiences with harassment and/or sexual abuse in wrestling. Other than that one instance with a wrestler, Rok-C stated that the majority of off-putting comments have come from fans and older men.
I feel like it was mostly fans, which it’s kind of like every time I think about it, it makes me a little sad that it’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, we get all these weird DMs and weird interactions with older men and we kind of just have to deal with it because it comes with the business’ and I kind of think about it and I’m like, ‘Oh, that was sad’ but it’s kind of like you really — it’s really important to be aware of that, especially when getting in so young, because I think honestly, the first inappropriate message I got from a fan, I was like 14 and I remember — yeah, it was on my Instagram and I remember going to my mom and being like, ‘Oh my God, what is this? I just got this messaged to me’ and she was just like, ‘Ugh.’ Like she couldn’t really — she didn’t really know what to do just because it’s like, ‘My daughter really wants to wrestle but this is also a little problem’ and it was just, like I said, just having my two trainers when I first started because they never really left my side when I first started wrestling. Like all those years when I first started wrestling when I was a minor, they were always there. So, yeah, that’s like super important but, with wrestlers, not really. Just like that instance. That instance with, you know comes with the business.
While the #SpeakingOut movement was ongoing, Rok-C admitted that she was hesitant to share her story. She decided to go public with her story because she thought it would make everyone more aware.
When that whole incident happened when the Speaking Out movement started happening and then I kind of remembered what the situation I was in, I honestly thought about it for a while and I was like, ‘Should I speak out on it? Should I just keep it to myself?’ And it was really, really hard but what really made me feel even sadder was just thinking about all the younger people that I’ve met that are like, ‘I wanna be a wrestler’ and I know there’s like this 15-year-old little girl, her name is Mia Friday and she’s just starting to come up in Texas and I thought about all of that and I was just like I would never want them to go through one of those incidents that I went through, like ever, because these little girls just come into wrestling and all they wanna do is just wrestle and they don’t even think that something like that could happen and I was like, you know what? I feel like if anything, just sharing my story will just kind of — it’ll make everyone more aware and kind of help this younger generation that hopefully they won’t go through any of that stuff just because I was able to share my story and be like, ‘Hey, this happened. Like cut it out.’
Rok-C is 19 years of age and she began her career in wrestling at 13 as a referee. She recounted an experience she had when two wrestlers wanted to involve her in a spot in the ring where one of them would kiss her. Rok-C’s trainer at the time made sure that did not happen.
I think there’s a few stories just of where like people from out of town. We were like right by the border so a lot of the time, some luchadors would come over and I think I remember one time, I was actually a ref and there is these two luchadors and they came to me and I was gonna ref their match and they were like, ‘Hey, we’re gonna do a spot where –’ I forgot exactly what it was but he was like, ‘I’m gonna end up kissing you’ and I was like, ‘Uh, I’m 13,’ and he’s like, ‘Oh, it’s okay. It’ll be quick’ and I was like, ‘What? Where’s the logic in that?’ And I just went to my trainer and I was like, ‘Hey, this happened’ and he stopped that real quick and I didn’t end up doing that match. Yeah, but he totally stopped it and they always took care of me and yeah, I’m super, super grateful for that.
** Tommy Dreamer welcomed Tony Nese onto his House of Hardcore Podcast. Nese looked back on his WWE Cruiserweight Title win at WrestleMania 35 and recounted his run-in with Vince McMahon after the match. McMahon told Nese, “That’s how you start WrestleMania.”
Yeah, I would say that was already in Gorilla which I was absolutely surprised. He was already there, ready to go and just looked up at me and he goes, ‘That’s how you start WrestleMania’ and then he shook my hand and I was like, ‘Oh my God. That was the greatest thing ever.’ So that day was one of the coolest experiences and definitely was one of my crowning moments in the company.
That WrestleMania match that Nese had was with Buddy Murphy. Their match was cut short and they had a rematch later that week on 205 Live with more time. Nese said for their WrestleMania bout, there were a number of things they couldn’t do because it was suggested to them that those moves/spots could happen on the WrestleMania main card.
So I think we were just 205 got to do a rematch on that Tuesday because really our Mania match was cut short obviously, so we were given little time, a lot of things we wanted to do, they would always be like, ‘Mhm, no. There’s gonna be probably something similar later so don’t do that’ so a lot of things we couldn’t do. So we kind of just did the best we could with what we were given and then on Tuesday, it was like, ‘Hey guys, let loose, have fun’ and we were given tons of time, like 20 something minutes or whatever and we just — on 205, had a real killer match that I always — I was putting it out on Twitter, ‘Everyone should go check it out’ because I was really proud of that one.
Tony shared that around the time he got signed to WWE, he tore a bicep in his left arm. He did not tell WWE what occurred because he was worried that he might be let go or the injury could hinder his standing in the company seeing as how he had just gotten there.
I do have tears and everything myself. I do have a torn bicep on my left arm. That was a deadlifting accident and I popped my hip when I was all the way up top and I popped my elbow and hyperextended my arm and then it snapped my bicep. Rolled right up, wrestled two days later on TV. Yeah, so I just got signed at the time so I was really scared to tell them that I tore my bicep so I just hit it and wrestled on it and I’m sure that’ll be all over the internet but they know already, they don’t care.
I was scared. I remember that day. Like as soon as it happened, I was like — I looked at my wife and I just said, ‘I think my career is over.’ I was like, ‘I think WWE’s gonna release me,’ all this stuff. I was so nervous and then I started going through denial. I was like, ‘You know what? I think I just hyper-extended it. It’ll be fine’ because it was so swollen, you couldn’t tell but as the swelling went down, I started to realize like, ‘Oh yeah, that thing is torn’ but, by that time, luckily pain was gone. I didn’t even bruise from it or anything. It was just snapped and that was it and I just moved on from it.
As the conversation about injuries went on, Nese revealed that he does not have an ACL in his left knee. That has been the case since his days in PWG. He detailed how the injury occurred and why he opted to not have it repaired.
So I also — this was years before I even started doing House of Hardcore. I tore my ACL in my left knee and so I’ve been living without it now in my left knee since then. I was actually at a PWG show. I was doing a dive and I just went right over my opponent, landed right on that leg and it popped out to the side so then, same thing, I just took two weeks off and I was right back at the gym and everything and then I was supposed to go to Japan — well actually, I was on my way to go to Japan for Dragon Gate and this was like a week before and I was like, ‘Man, the swelling in my knee is not gonna go down. I should go to a surgeon and see if he’ll drain it for me’ and when I went, he was like, you know, he was putting over the MRI. He was like, ‘I wanna do an MRI before I drain it,’ does the MRI and tells me everything. It was a fully torn ACL, a partially torn PCL, MCL and both meniscus torn. So, and he was, ‘We should do surgery tomorrow and you shouldn’t even be walking,’ blah, blah, blah and I was like, ‘I’m going to Japan next week’ and he’s like, ‘You’re not gonna make it through that’ and same thing, that morning before I went to go see him, I went to the gym and I was doing box jumps. So I’m sitting there like kind of, ‘I don’t know. I think I’m gonna be alright’ and lo and behold, I just wrapped it up and went to Japan and that’s gotta be like seven, eight years ago now, maybe even longer.
Tommy Dreamer then shared that back in 2001, Glenn “Kane” Jacobs needed knee replacement surgery because he had no knees and it was just bone to bone contact. Jacobs did not take time off.
I remember Kane was told — this was like 2001 — he needed knee replacement and he had no knees. They were bone-to-bone, in 2001 and never missed anything. He would wear his braces to the gym, he had workout braces, he would do cardio and we’re talking about Kane in 2001 where you need knee replacement but, that didn’t happen for him.
** It was announced that John Cena is appearing on the 7/23 Friday Night SmackDown. Cena is kicking off tonight’s Raw in Dallas, Texas following his return to WWE at Money In The Bank.
** The Miz guest appeared on El Brunch de WWE and discussed how his recovery is going since tearing his ACL. There is no timeline on his return to in-ring competition, but Miz wants to be sure that his knee is 100 percent before he wrestles again.
I don’t know . So right now, I am in physical therapy, working to get to 100 percent on my knee. I don’t want to be in a match where I’m thinking about my knee, thinking about the injury. If I tweak it, if I go this way, I don’t want to do that because then I’ll be thinking about that rather than what I’m doing and I don’t wanna injure any other body part on myself, as well as potentially injure another superstar so, I’m going to wait, make sure I’m 100 percent and when I feel that is right and the doctors feel that’s right, that’s when I’ll back. Is there a timeline? No. I don’t know, I really don’t.
Despite being with WWE since the early 2000s, Miz does not feel comfortable in his spot in the company. He added that he can still improve and get better.
Everyone just thought I was on the Real World, I’m on TV, they probably just gave me a contract. It wasn’t the case. I had to work for it and I’m still working for it to this day. Like even now, I still don’t — I’m not comfortable where I’m at. I wanna be better, I wanna be the best, I wanna be number one. Do my talents allow me to do that? I hope so and sometimes you find talents that you don’t even realize you had and with the knowledge that I have now, I am able to display more and more talents out there so hopefully I’ll start whenever I get out of this wheelchair and get this knee back to 100 percent, I’ll be able to showcase exactly what I can do, even more so than I have.
** Michael Cole guest appeared on The Pat McAfee Show following their call of Money In The Bank. Cole heaped praise onto McAfee and stated that his broadcast partner has revitalized his career and added several more years onto his career as a WWE commentator.
It was unbelievable Pat . It was one of the top-five moments of my career. First I do wanna say this is that you know, you’ve — and I’ve read a lot about this online as well but it’s absolutely true. You have completely revitalized my career. I’ve been doing this for almost 25 years now and I’ve seen and been a part of everything in WWE and you know, you go through different partners over the years and everybody I’ve worked with has been great and they’ve all brought a different style to the product. JBL, unbelievable partner, Corey Graves, incredible talent. But you’re different than all those guys because not that they’re not fans but you’re a true fan and you bring that enthusiasm to the product and seeing how you’ve been acting over the past couple of months has really revitalized what I do and I realize I have to step up my game to keep up with what you’re doing from an enthusiastic standpoint and that’s what I’m trying to do and it’s been a lot of fun for me and it’s been really different and I just want to thank you for breathing some life into this old body again so maybe I can hang on for a couple more years.
** Coming off of his Money In The Bank ladder match win, Big E appeared on ESPN’s SportsNation and explained what it felt like to have that moment in front of a live crowd.
There’s nothing like it. It can sound cliché and corny but there really is nothing like it. Man I really felt buoyed by the people, for real. You know, we were doing the best we could during the ThunderDome era, working in front of our fans, being there, performing in front of our fans, wrestling in front of our fans virtually but there’s just no substitute for having fans there live in the building and they were incredible. Being here at Fort Worth, I couldn’t ask for a more lively crowd so it’s one of those moments, it’s really one of the best moments of my career and yeah, it’s a special day for me for sure.
** The Alliance Pro Wrestling Network has an interview with Larry Zbyszko. During their conversation, Larry told the story of when himself, Captain Lou Albano, Tony Garea and Tony Altomare were in a restaurant in New York and Albano peed on someone in the restaurant for making light of pro wrestling and saying it’s not real.
Altomare eating and it’s a nice restaurant in New York, and all of a sudden, you see Altomare saying something to Lou and pointing to people at the table next to them, saying stuff like, ‘Hey, I think those people are knocking you Lou and saying wrestling’s not real and all that crap.’ Albano now is getting — you could see him. Me and Tony are looking at each other going, ‘Oh God, oh no.’ Sure enough so Albano gets up, walks over to the other table with the guy, zips down his pants and pees on him in the restaurant. I mean that’s the kind of stuff that no one else would ever even think of doing that the Captain Albano would do and somehow get away with it. They would politely ask him to leave, you know, the guy’s getting peed on in the restaurant and oh my God, me and Garea are just shaking our heads. He was a character.
Larry spoke highly of Vince McMahon Jr. for how he has changed the wrestling business. He feels that Vince has taken wrestling onto a global scale. Larry added that when it is all said and done, McMahon will go down as the greatest promoter that ever lived.
The me and Bruno just a name. You had characters, everybody was a character. The Hulk, the Macho Man, the Hot Rod, The Superfly, the this, the that and there’s a nationwide cable and that’s when the money started coming more and more and really thanks to Vince McMahon Jr., the wrestling business is huge and worldwide and now we’re in a global network era. So Vince really, I mean, he’s gonna go down as the best, most amazing promoter that ever lived because what wrestling was in the 50s and 60s and 70s compared to what it is today is amazing. In the WWE, I can’t say enough, it’s really a great company, it takes care of the guys, the work it does with charities, it provides thousands of jobs for people, not only just wrestlers. Camera people, crew people, pyro people, truck driver, you know, in like 180 countries. It’s amazing.
** While speaking to Ryan Satin on his ‘Out of Character’ show, Charlotte Flair reflected on the early days of her venture into pro wrestling. When it came time for her to join WWE, Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque told her that just because the door was being opened for her, did not mean it was going to be opened for her brother Reid Flair.
So from April to July, I was going through the process of where Canyon , I was his first hiree who was a talent. I was Canyon’s first hire. Like Triple H was just taking over so Triple H had hired Canyon and I got the phone call and then Triple H had called and said, ‘You know –’ everyone’s just kind of shocked because, ‘Do you really wanna do this?’ ‘Huh?’ So I just remember him saying, ‘Just because –’ he said this in such a kind, loving, gentle way but he was like, ‘Just because we’re opening the door for you does not mean we’re gonna open the door for Reid.’ I was like, ‘Oh no, I don’t know what you’re talking about. No. No clue,’ even though that was really I guess the whole idea so for like April, May, June, July, I’m like, ‘What am I doing? Like I’ve never even been in a ring.’ I got in a ring in that three months one or two times with a guy by the name of Lodi.
Flair has had over ten Women’s Championship reigns throughout her career in WWE. She does wish that she could’ve gotten her start in wrestling earlier and mentioned Rhea Ripley being able to garner the amount of experience she has at 24-years-old.
There is so many things that go into what we do, it’s like I’m growing. I wish I could turn back time and be like — I’m so envious like for instance, Rhea Ripley, she’s 24-years-old. Like I can’t. When I was 24 years old, you didn’t wanna know me at 24. I was a hot mess at 24. I am where I am today and everyone has to have their path, but I do wish I had started younger. I am very jealous of that.
** The Dallas Morning News caught up with Mark Henry ahead of AEW Fyter Fest night two in Texas. Henry gave his take on the idea that fans have to choose between AEW and WWE and here are his thoughts on the topic:
You know what, it’s like gangs. You’ve got the Crips and the Bloods and everybody’s fighting each other. And at the end of the day, we’re all people. We all have our issues as well as our successes. Pro wrestling is pro wrestling. I’m on Busted Open. Even though I work for AEW, I have to analyze WWE product. I have to analyze every major company in the world – MLW, Power, New Japan, Impact – there’s a lot of companies people don’t know and we have to watch them. I watch about 15-17 hours of wrestling a week. And stop being that way. Stop not giving somebody an opportunity just because you love one brand. You have a closed mind. Open your mind, watch all of wrestling, and then you tell me you don’t like AEW.
** JTG was the most recent guest on the TWC Show. Several months ago, JTG began working with the National Wrestling Alliance and he explained how that came to be. He sees a “big future” there for himself.
I got the call from them and I like their product and I went in and everything sounded good and I had my debut match with Fred Rosser, and we had a great match and I love the locker room, I love the environment there. It’s a safe, non-toxic environment so I see a big future there.
He spent close to a decade in WWE as a singles talent and as a member of Cryme Tyme alongside the late Shad Gaspard. After Cryme Tyme split, JTG pitched a number of ideas to Vince McMahon and creative, including a character that would carry around a doll that only he and the fans would be able to ‘see’.
I had shot some ideas after the . I can’t think of the name right now. It’s a very popular cartoon. Anyway, the hormone monster, I had a similar idea where the WWE universe and I could only see my imaginary muppet and when I did segments, my opponent or whoever was in the backstage segment with me, since it’s from my imagination, they can’t see it but the WWE universe could hear it and see it and so can I, so something like that. Vince loved the idea, he thought kids would love it. I got a muppet that looked just like me, but a lot of questions, started getting real technical like, ‘Who’s gonna control the muppet?’ And, ‘Is he gonna come out to the ring with you?’ I’m like, ‘We’ll worry about that later. Let’s just get the ball rolling. It’s a good idea.’
As far as today’s wrestling landscape goes, JTG feels that some talents are doing harm to the business because of the lack of selling.
I was gonna say some of the talent in the wrestling pool today is killing the business. Taking ridiculous bumps and not selling it and getting right back up. Just going spot to spot to spot just to get a reaction. You know, it makes it harder for someone like me who wants to tell a great story.
** At New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s Wrestle Grand Slam show at the Tokyo Dome, Shingo Takagi is going to defend the IWGP World Heavyweight Title against Kota Ibushi. To promote the bout, NJPW1972.com published their interview with Takagi and if he is to defeat Ibushi, Takagi said his next goal is to defend the title against Tetsuya Naito at the Tokyo Dome.
I want to hold this belt until the end of the year, and then I want Naito. I think if I can beat him as well as Ibushi, it would prove that I’m the best guy of my generation, and the best in all modern pro-wrestling.
Elsewhere during the conversation, it was brought up that Ibushi and Takagi are two non-NJPW bred talents who are headlining the Tokyo Dome. Takagi shared that he’s slightly disappointed that there’s not any backlash from the New Japan veterans about that.
No, not a dig, but I wonder, a non-native NJPW guy like me taking the world title, is there not a little bit of anger from the veterans? To be honest, I’m a little disappointed there hasn’t been as far as I can tell. Maybe I haven’t drawn enough attention to myself, or to the belt. The ring is the place to let that anger out, so I want all of it. So not a dig at NJPW, but ‘look at me’ kind of thing.
** WWE is partnering with TikTok to search for a special guest ring announcer for SummerSlam in Las Vegas on August 21st. Users will have to upload their most entertaining video to be a part of the pool of participants who could be selected for a ring announcing spot at SummerSlam.
** Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated ran his interview with Bianca Belair. She shared that she and Bayley found out that they would be competing inside Hell In A Cell two days before the pay-per-view.
We found out for sure that we were having that match in the cell on the Friday two days before the show. We were still able to make something special, and that shows how great Bayley is and how great we are together.
** This past Saturday at IMPACT Wrestling’s Slammiversary pay-per-view, Thunder Rosa challenged Deonna Purrazzo for the Knockouts Championship. Coming off of her successful title defense, Deonna spoke to Sports Illustrated and said she’s open to a rematch with Rosa.
Rosa is the first person stepping through the ‘Forbidden Door’ for a Knockouts title match. If that door is going to stay open, I’m totally open to a rematch. She brought the best out of me, and vice-versa.
** NXT Women’s Champion Raquel Gonzalez chatted with Fightful for an interview. Raquel recalled a recent interaction she had with Vince McMahon during which McMahon referred to her as an ‘amazon’.
He popped up a couple of weeks ago. I haven’t had much interaction with him. The first encounter, I was backstage at Raw with Rhea Ripley. We were standing there together and he was like, ‘Well, uber Amazon.’ That was a good little reaction for me, but I haven’t had an opportunity to interact with him too much, but I’m looking forward to it. I hear he’s quite the character.
** Drew McIntyre told SPORTbible the story of when he almost fought a referee when he played soccer as a teenager.
** Prior to WWE Money In The Bank, Nikki A.S.H. (Cross) was interviewed by Comicbook.com and Riddle spoke to The National.
** Shingo Takagi versus Kota Ibushi from the 2020 New Japan Pro-Wrestling G1 Climax tournament:
** NJPW Summer Struggle Results (7/19/21) Ryugasaki, Ibaraki, Japan
– Robbie Eagles, SHO & YOH def. Suzuki-gun (DOUKI, El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)
– EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi def. Tomohiro Ishii & Yuya Uemura
– Hiroshi Tanahashi, Rocky Romero, Ryusuke Taguchi & Tiger Mask def. BULLET CLUB (El Phantasmo, Gedo, KENTA & Taiji Ishimori)
– The United Empire (Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb) def. Kazuchika Okada & Yota Tsuji
– Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito) def. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Master Wato & Yuji Nagata
** Jake Something is defending the BLP Championship against Stallion Rogers (Curt Stallion) at Black Label Pro’s September 4th event.
** Chelsea Green was the latest guest on the ROHStrong Podcast.
** Jinder Mahal turned 35-years-old on 7/19. Robert Gibson, one-half of The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express turned 63 today.
** The latest video from Ronda Rousey’s YouTube channel:
If any of the quotes from the following podcasts or video interviews are used, please credit those sources and provide an H/T and link back to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.